Automated production control method

ABSTRACT

In a method for operating at least one machine with a computer, it is possible for at least one task for the production of a printed product to be stored in the computer, which task is processed on the machine. Parameters for setting the machine are stored as parameter sets in templates and relate to one or more production steps. For the purpose of job-specific adaptation, the settings in the templates must be modified. On account of settings which have not been tried and tested and not proven worthwhile, costs arise in terms of quality; in addition the settings can be made only by specialized personnel. To increase quality and to allow less qualified personnel to operate the machines, a parameter set based on rough entered data is compared with templates and that a most similar template be used to set the production step or steps.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a divisional application of application Ser. No. 11/732,077,filed Apr. 2, 2007; the application also claims the priority, under 35U.S.C. §119, of German patent application No. DE 10 2006 015 465.7,filed Mar. 31, 2006; the prior applications are herewith incorporated byreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for operating at least onemachine in the graphics industry with a computer, it being possible forat least one task for the production of a printed product to be storedin the computer, which task is processed on the at least one machine.The task includes at least one production step, and at least twotemplates are stored in the computer and these templates are parametersets which have different settings of the at least one production step.

The production of products in the graphics industry requires accurateplanning of the production process, since it is usual for a large numberof machines processing printing materials and consumable materials to beneeded during the production of such a product. This begins with theselection of the printing material, which can be obtained in many sizes,material compositions, colors, etc., proceeds via the choice of asuitable printing plate exposer with the selection of printing plates,screening methods and screening angles, and proceeds further via theselection of the suitable printing press on the basis of the printingformat, the selected printing material, the necessary colors, etc. asfar as further processing with folding machines and packaging machines.This enumeration is only a small selection of the possible productionsteps and of the possible task information, such as materials used andparameters to be set up within a production step, or the entire task forthe production of the printed product. These parameters relate inparticular to setting values of the machines and methods, for examplecalculations and conversions, which are necessary for the productionstep. The production sequence must therefore be analyzed and plannedaccurately in order that the necessary machines and consumable materialsare present and the individual production steps can be carried out assatisfactorily as possible.

Machines in the graphics industry according to the prior art operate inaccordance with a defined operating scheme, so that the operator has tomake specific settings or entries during each print job. This applies toall the machines in the graphics industry, such as the plate exposersand the raster image processors in the prepress stage, the printingpresses, the folding machines and the machines for packaging, as well asother further processing operations of printed products. Each print jobnormally passes through the three stations containing a prepress stage,a main printing stage and further processing. Here, the print job iseither described in a conventional job docket or is guided through theindividual processing stations as an electronic file in a type ofvirtual job docket. Depending on the print job, the operator then has toperform the necessary settings for the print job on the individualmachines and to correct these settings if necessary in accordance with aproof that is made, so that the printed product ultimately correspondsto the printing original predefined by the customer.

This procedure is rather time-consuming and requires a great deal ofprinting art comprehension by the operator since, for example, he has toselect characteristic curves for the inking unit of a printing press andto make further settings. In particular, operating personnel who havenot been trained to become printers are overtaxed by the many andvarious settings of a printing press. In addition, the time factor playsa role which must not be underestimated in the graphics industry, sothat time-consuming changeover actions between two print jobs, as arenormally necessary nowadays, constitute a critical disadvantage inrelation to the economy of the machines used.

Published, non-prosecuted German patent application DE 10 2004 033 056A1, corresponding to U.S. patent disclosure No. 2005/0028700 A1,discloses a method for automating such a task for the production of aprinted product. Such a task will also be designated a print job in thefollowing text. In this case, it is not intended to describe theprinting process alone but stands for the totality of all the productionsteps during the production of the printed product which are carried outwithin the range of action of the printer and, if appropriate, can becontrolled jointly via a computer.

Published, non-prosecuted German patent application DE 10 2004 033 056A1 then reveals a method which preferably runs as software on a computerwhich is able to communicate with the machine or the machines. Thecomputer receives task data from the operator or from a task otherwisesupplied and then performs all the settings which are needed for theprint job. For this purpose, it makes access back to stored parametersets from preceding print jobs. Should individual parameters not bestored, then the method calculates these automatically or requestsfurther entry by the user.

Such stored parameter sets are designated templates. They are in eachcase assigned to one or more production steps and relate to the settingsand materials to be used for this production step.

If, therefore, individual task information of a print job does notcoincide with a stored template, then, in accordance with the methoddescribed here, the parameters which do not coincide or are not storedare newly calculated in a task-specific manner or the template issupplemented or changed in a task-specific manner by a user, so that thesettings which are stored in the template correspond better to the newprint job.

The problem with this method is that in this way new settings which areunchecked or not already tried and tested are used for the production ofa job. For this combination of settings there is no experience in thecorresponding operation as to whether they lead to a product having anacceptable quality.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an automatedproduction control method which overcomes the above-mentioneddisadvantages of the prior art methods of this general type, which makesit possible, in a reliable and simple way, to produce a printed productin such a way that it comes as close as possible to given requirements.

With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, inaccordance with the invention, a method for operating at least onemachine in the graphics industry with a computer. The method includesstoring at least two templates in the computer and the templates beingparameter sets having different settings of at least one productionstep; and storing at least one task containing the at least oneproduction step for producing a printed product in the computer bytransmitting, in a first working step, task information to the computerof: parameters and/or boundary conditions of the at least one productionstep; and/or

Intermediate products and/or a resultant printed product. In a secondworking step, the task information is used to form at least onepredefined parameter set for the at least one production step. In athird working step, the predefined parameter set is compared with theparameter sets of the at least two templates and, for each of thetemplates, a similarity of its parameter set to the predefined parameterset is determined, if the predefined parameter set is not identical toany of the parameter sets of the templates. In a fourth working step, atemplate with a most similar parameter set is used for an automatedsetting and performance of the at least one production step forprocessing on the at least one machine.

In a first working step, task information about parameters and/orboundary conditions of the at least one production step and/or taskinformation about intermediate products and/or the resultant printedproduct is transmitted to a computer. In this case, for example, thiscan be any desired production step for the production of the printedproduct. For example, it can be printing plate exposure or sheetfolding. In order to carry out the production step, the use of anappropriate machine, for example printing plate exposer or sheet foldingmachine, is then necessary. This machine must be set up appropriately,i.e. necessary parameters must be transmitted. Here, these parametersare dependent on the underlying materials, that is to say for the endproduct or for intermediate products.

In a second working step, the task information is used to form at leastone predefined parameter set for the at least one production step.

In a third working step, the predefined parameter set is compared withthe parameter sets of at least two templates and, for each template, thesimilarity of its parameter set to the predefined parameter set isdetermined.

In general, a plurality of templates is installed for each productionstep. These templates in each case contain a complete parameter set forsetting machines and for carrying out the production step. In this case,in particular boundary conditions such as the utilization of the machinecapacities and savings of working steps can also be taken into account.The templates in each case also include necessary or desired materialsfor the production step.

These templates have been stored in the computer. There is therefore thepossibility that only tested templates, which ensure particularly goodand in particular also reproducible quality of the printed product, arestored for this purpose. Furthermore, they can contain detailedinformation which ensures that material can be saved and the sequencescan be accelerated.

If the predefined parameter step is not identical with any parameter setof the templates, in a fourth working step it is precisely that templatewith the most similar parameter set which is used for the automatedsetting and performance of the at least one process step.

If the task information contains all the parameters of a template, thenit is exactly this template which is used in order to control at leastthis production step. In general, however, first of all not all theexisting parameters of the templates are transmitted by the taskinformation. Furthermore, in the parameters of the task informationwhich are transmitted, it is possible for deviations from the parametersof the templates to occur. This means that the predefined parameter setfor this production step differs from the parameter sets of thetemplates. The fact that the most similar template is now selected inorder to control the at least one production step ensures that areproducible quality of the product is achieved, since this templateshould have been predefined by a specialist or at least, according toexperience, produces a high-quality product. A reproducible result istherefore achieved.

Of course, provision can also be made for individual templates or allthe templates to contain a plurality of production steps or for aplurality of templates to be combined to form a template group and inthis way form common parameter sets which result from the combination ofthe individual parameter sets.

Individual possible production steps are:

-   -   data acceptance for the printed content (e.g. pages of a        brochure),    -   data preparation for the print,    -   outputting the data on paper and initialing by the client (what        is known as the proof cycle),    -   distributing the printed content to a plurality of printed        sheets (what is known as imposing),    -   outputting the planned printed sheets on paper (what is known as        a sheet proof),    -   outputting the printing plates needed for the printing (plate        exposure),    -   printing the printed sheets on one or various available printing        presses,    -   cutting the printed sheets,    -   folding the printed sheets,    -   binding the printed sheets to make the end product,    -   packaging the products, and    -   delivering the products.

Materials which can be taken into account in the templates are, forexample:

-   -   printing plates,    -   papers for the printing, and    -   inks for the printing.

Each of the production steps has many variations, requisite settings andaids, etc., which have to be defined in accordance with the availableproduction measures and in accordance with the task. All this can thenadvantageously be taken into account in the stored templates.

In an advantageous further development, provision is made for thepredefined parameter set to contain fewer parameters than or as manyparameters as the parameter sets of the templates. In this way, by arough predefinition which contains only some of the possible parameters,a print job can already be predefined in such a way that a similartemplate and therefore a reproducible product that is as good aspossible is achieved.

In a particularly advantageous development, provision is made for atleast one parameter to be identified as mandatory and for a template tobe used for the automated setting and performance of the at least oneprocess step only if the corresponding parameter of the predefinedparameter set coincides with the parameter of the template. Thesemandatory parameters make it possible for the most importantcharacteristics of a printed product actually to be fulfilled. Forexample, it may be the case that it is not so relevant to the quality ofthe product whether a specific region of the printing original wasscreened with a quite specific screen but, for example, the format ofthe end product is a considerably more important point specifically forthe client of the print job. Then, as opposed to the screen, the formatwould be a mandatory parameter. Only templates which coincide with thepredefined parameter set in this or in these parameters can be selected.In particular, it can also be possible that a mandatory parameter mustbe transmitted by the predefined parameter set at all in order to permita selection of the template.

In this case, mandatory can also be understood as a limiting value whichmust be set up by the predefined parameter set and must not be exceededor undershot by the relevant parameter of the template to be selected.This can be, for example, the size of a printing plate. This must belarger than the printing original; on the other hand, a template whichhas too small a printing plate for the printing original cannot beselected.

In a further development or alternative embodiment, provision is madefor parameters to be weighted with weighting factors and for thesimilarity of a parameter set of a template to the predefined parameterset to be determined while taking account of the weighting factors ofcoincident parameters. In this way, the importance of specificpredefinitions can be determined. The dot size during screening can, forexample, be more important than the screen size or vice versa. Dependingon this, an order can then be formed among the parameters and thetemplate is then selected which has more important or overall moreimportant parameters coinciding with the predefined parameter set.

In a further development or alternative embodiment, provision is madefor the similarity of the parameter sets to be determined while takinginto account the number of coincident parameters. Beneficially, in thisway templates which have the most numerous coincidences with thepredefined parameter sets are intended to be determined.

In conjunction with the weighting factors, however, templates withnumerically fewer coincidences can also be selected, since thesecoincide with the predefined parameter set in terms of more importantparameters.

In particular in the case of two or more templates which have the samenumber of coincident parameters with the predefined parameter set, theweightings of the coincident parameters can decide which template isdetermined as being the most similar and ultimately used. This can bestored in the form of an order of priority. This order of priority canalso be stored in addition to the first weighting factors. Thus, twomutually independent weightings of the parameters can be provided to betaken into account during the determination of the most similartemplate.

Since, in the case of individual parameters, tolerances are possiblewithin which fluctuations have no effect on the quality, it isadvantageously possible in particular for tolerances within whichcoincidences are detected to be defined for individual parameters.

In a particularly advantageous further development, provision is madefor a plurality of process steps to be carried out for the production ofthe printed product, for task information which describes the importantcharacteristics of the printed product and the substantial productionsequence to be transferred to the computer, and, for each of the processsteps, for a predefined parameter set to be created on the basis of thetask information, the predefined parameter set describing the importantsequence of the respective process step.

The important characteristics and the important sequence of therespective production steps are then advantageously predefined in thisway by the data of the printing process that is transmitted to thecomputer. If, then, for each production step, a suitable, that is to saysimilar, template is selected, then it is first ensured that itcorresponds substantially to the desired printed product, and second,has a reproducible quality, since only tested templates are used for itsproduction. Under certain circumstances, although some characteristicsof the configured product are not achieved, the quality will alwayscorrespond to a certain standard. As a result of predefining importantfeatures of the product, in particular by using mandatory features orparameters and weighting factors, it is possible for a coincidencebetween the printed product actually produced with the desired productto be achieved in essence, that is to say specific features.

In order also to permit the processing of print jobs for which nosuitable template, that is to say no similar template, has been found,provision is advantageously made in a further development for anotification to be produced if, for a process step, it is not possibleto determine any template which contains a similar parameter set to thepredefined parameter set, and for at least this process step not to becarried out until a template with a similar parameter set has beenstored in the computer. According to the invention, provision can bemade for a template to be selected for which a minimum number ofparameters have to be modified in order to achieve a similar template.These parameters can then either be changed or supplemented by hand orthese changes can be calculated.

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the inventionare set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodiedin an automated production control method, it is nevertheless notintended to be limited to the details shown, since various modificationsand structural changes may be made therein without departing from thespirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents ofthe claims.

The construction and method of operation of the invention, however,together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be bestunderstood from the following description of specific embodiments whenread in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a basic production sequence for theproduction of a printed product according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration showing a selection method for determining amost similar template; and

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing a further selection method fordetermining the most similar template.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first,particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a production sequencefrom an entry of rough data in a scheduling system 1 as far as theproduction of a product or an intermediate product by a machine 12. Inthe preparation of the work for the production of the product, sequencesare planned and boundary conditions are predefined. This is done in thescheduling system 1, also called a management information system MIS.Here, the rough data 2 is entered into the system without any concreteknowledge relating to the production conditions being necessary oravailable.

The rough data 2 is transmitted as task information 3 to a productionsystem 4. The production system 4 is implemented in software. Theproduction system 4 produces a predefined parameter set 5 having thepredefined parameters a), d), g), x). These can relate, for example, toa selected machine type, a format to be processed or a desired color.

A comparator 6 of the production system 4 compares the parameter set 5with parameter sets of stored templates 7, 8, 9, 10. Here, the template8 is detected as the most similar template. This information istransmitted to a controller 11. The controller 11 will drive the machine12 which is responsible for the relevant production step only by thepredefinitions of the most similar template 8. The original predefinedparameters a), d), g), x) of the predefined parameter set 5 then nolonger play any part.

Since the template 8 has been predefined in such a way that it permits ahigh quality of the end product, a high-quality product is achieved. Thetemplates 7-10 can be predefined at the same time of the installation ofthe production system 4 and can have been produced by trained personnel.Furthermore, additional templates which have proven worthwhile for thegiven boundary conditions can be stored by specialist staff belonging tothe printing plant. It is also possible for new templates to betransmitted into the production system 4 from outside, irrespective ofprevious applications of the production system 4. This can be done inparticular by updates to the software, in particular via a network, adata storage medium or the Internet. In this way, more and moretemplates 7-10 can be stored which always correspond more accurately tothe requirements of the task information 3 and at the same time ensure apredefined quality. In this case, the templates 7-10 are themselves inparticular not manipulated in a job-specific manner and always ensure areproducible result which, in particular, has already proven worthwhilein production.

The specialist requirements on the operating personnel of the productionsystem 4 are reduced sharply by the fact that there is no longer anynecessity to modify or to produce settings in a job-specific manner,which can be done only by specialized personnel.

One example for a template 7-10 is the entire parameter set which anoutput system (RIP) having a connected plate exposer needs in order tooutput a plurality of pages as a separate plate set for the printing ofa printed sheet. Contained in the parameter set are, for example, screensystem, dot shape, screen frequency, plate material to be exposed,calibration settings to be used, etc. Only some of these parameters arepredefined by the task information; a tried and tested template 7-10 isselected which is most similar to the parameter set 5 produced by thetask information 3.

FIG. 2 shows a selection method for a most similar template 8 accordingto FIG. 1. First, in a step 13, all the templates 14-19 stored in theproduction system 4 are checked to see whether mandatory parameters arepresent and which templates coincide with the predefined parameter set 5in all the mandatory parameters. In the example, the templates 20-23 areselected which coincide with the predefined parameter set 5 in all themandatory parameters. Here, coincide also means in particular the casein which the parameters lie within a tolerance band or are greater orless than the predefined parameters if the parameter is stored as alimiting value.

In the following step 24, the templates 25, 26 which in each case havethe greatest number of coincident parameters with the predefinedparameter set 5 are then determined. Here, coincidence is to beunderstood as described above.

In a subsequent step 27, the most similar template 8 is primarilyselected from the previously determined templates 25, 26 with an equalnumber of coincidences. This is done on the basis of weightings of theindividual parameters. Different weighting factors are assigned to theparameters.

The selection of the most similar template 8 can then be carried out invarious ways.

In a first embodiment, the weighting factors of the coincidentparameters of the previously selected templates 25, 26 are added and thetemplate 8 having the highest sum is selected.

In a second embodiment, the template 8 which, on its own, has theparameter with the highest weighting factor coinciding with thepredefined parameter set is detected as the most similar template. Thiscan also additionally be done in accordance with a method as in thefirst embodiment.

A further preferred embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 3. Identicaldesignations designate identical steps and elements to those in theprevious figures. The selection method illustrated here corresponds tothat described in FIG. 2. Here, step 27 is omitted.

In step 28, which replaces steps 24 and 27 of FIG. 2, the most similartemplate is finally selected from the previously determined templates20-23. This is done on the basis of weightings of the individualparameters and the coincidence. Different weighting factors are assignedto the parameters. Here, the counting of coincidences and the weightingis carried out in step 28.

In this embodiment, the weighting factors of the coincident parametersof the previously selected templates 20-23 are added and the template 8having the highest sum is selected.

In a fourth embodiment, which is a special case of the second and thirdembodiment and is preferred, each weighting factor is allocated onlyonce and in this way an order of priority of the parameters is produced.Then, on the basis of the highest priority parameter, it is determinedwhether there is a template which has no coincidence in this parameterwith the predefined parameter set 5 while there are other templateswhich still have a coincidence. If this is the case, then the relevanttemplate without coincidence is discarded. The parameters are thereforechecked in this order and templates are discarded until there is onlyone template 8 left. This template is then the template with thegreatest similarity with the predefined parameter set 5 and is used todrive the machine 12 as described in relation to FIG. 1.

In this way, a tried and tested template which has been proven toproduce a high-quality product is always used to drive the machine 12.This template has been created by specialists and could preferablyalready have been checked. A user who has no background knowledge aboutthe process sequence can then produce a high-quality product, whichcoincides with the requirements in terms of mandatory features and ismost similar to the desired end product in terms of the most importantfeatures, merely by storing the rough data 2 in a scheduling system 1for a printing system.

1. A method for operating at least one machine in a graphics industrywith a computer, which comprises the steps of: storing at least twotemplates in the computer and the templates being parameter sets havingdifferent settings of at least one production step; storing at least onetask containing the at least one production step for producing a printedproduct in the computer by transmitting, in a first working step, taskinformation to the computer of at least one of: parameters and/orboundary conditions of the at least one production step, andintermediate products and/or a resultant printed product; using, in asecond working step, the task information to form at least onepredefined parameter set for the at least one production step;comparing, in a third working step, the predefined parameter set withthe parameter sets of the at least two templates; determining asimilarity of a parameter set of a template to the predefined parameterset for each of the parameter sets of the templates not identical to thepredefined parameter set; using, in a fourth working step, a templatewith a most similar parameter set for an automated setting andperformance of the at least one production step for processing on the atleast one machine; and using only the template with the most similarparameter set without manipulation of the template in a task-specificmanner for controlling the at least one machine.
 2. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein the predefined parameter set contains fewerparameters than or as many parameters as the parameter sets of thetemplates.
 3. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises:identifying at least one parameter of the predefined parameter set asbeing a mandatory parameter; and using the template for the automatedsetting and performance of the at least one production step only if themandatory parameter of the predefined parameter set coincides with aparameter of the template.
 4. The method according to claim 1, whichfurther comprises: weighting parameters with weighting factors ofcoincident parameters; and determining the similarity of the parameterset of the template to the predefined parameter set by taking intoaccount the weighting factors of the coincident parameters.
 5. Themethod according to claim 1, which further comprises determining thesimilarity between the parameter set and the predefined parameter set bytaking into account a number of coincident parameters.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 3, which further comprises for individual parametersof the predefined parameter set, detecting a coincidence when aparameter of the template lies within a predefined tolerance band of acorresponding parameter of the predefined parameter set.
 7. The methodaccording to claim 1, which further comprises: carrying out a pluralityof production steps for producing of the printed product; transferringthe task information describing critical characteristics of the printedproduct and a substantial production sequence to the computer; andcreating, for individual ones of the production steps, the predefinedparameter set on a basis of the task information, and the predefinedparameter set describing an important sequence of a respectiveproduction step.
 8. The method according to claim 7, which furthercomprises producing a notification if, for the respective productionstep, it is not possible to determine any template which contains asimilar parameter set to the predefined parameter set, and at least therespective production step is not carried out until the template withthe most similar parameter set has been stored in the computer.